break on through

5 OT games and several game winning shots later we've emerged into the sweet sixteen in this years tourney. I've been shell shocked, awe stricken, dumbfounded, ecstatic, perplexed, these games have put me through an emotional gauntlet I wont soon forget. Wathcing no name Murray St. hit an improbable game winner against Vandy those kids jumping up and down in jubilation that's what this time of year is about that's what makes it fantastic. On the flip side you've got Greg Monroe future lottery pick hanging his head when his Hoyas got run off the court by the 14 seeded Ohio Bobcats(killed my brackets jerks). It's all about highs and lows, KU getting Farok-ed when this little floppy haired kid takes a 3 with 30 seconds left on the shot clock. If he misses that shot I'm convinced Kansas would have taken the ball back up the court and finished that game off, and he is the dumbest kid on campus. HUGE balls in those ugly purple shorts, also considering he hit a gamer in the first round too. Two teams that seem to have emerged higher than all others, figuratively speaking for Syracuse and probably literally for the UK Wildcats. As of right now I'm looking forward to a big orange vs big blue show down but if these first two rounds have told us anything about parody in college bball assuming these things def makes an arse out of you and especially me.

COOL RUNNINGS

   That is what I love about this blog, it is our opinion and obviously that that does not mean $hit.  We claim to follow and be experts but Kansas just made the whole world look like idiots.  I had them shuffling through confetti and cliiping the nets while all the other teams were hoping to have a clip in that one shining moment. 

SO AMAZING

     I hate to see  these first round games stands are not fulll.  I understand that they do not know who is playing but it is the DANCE.  No matter what you are going to see top notch ball whatever seed is playing and being the first round you are going to see multiple games.  Cornell and Temple the hugest culture clash you can draw up and there was seats for days.  I blame it on the conference tourneys.  You have Ivey League against busche league which by far was the sexy upset and you can not fill the seats. PLEASE.  I guess people would rather watch Carl Edwards(#99 here you go buck) crash another car trying to go left than NCAA bliss.

TIGER

     I want to say that Tiger coming back is going to be like Jordan entering baseball but he is actually going to compete.  I agree that him returning while all the hype from the dance is very smart.  I personally just want to see a a sport that I love go back to normal.  I hate to say it but I have not watched a lick of golf since he went into silence.  The man has superhuman skills but he has shown himself normal in the last five months.  HE IS A MAN, you have to think of all the special attention that he has received and obviously taken advantage of(just like most men would have).  All I want is to have Mr. Woods make the cut and god willing put on the NIKE red shirt on Sunday.  I believe that alone for real fans of golf that is everything we are looking for.  Heaven forbid he puts on the green jacket and he shoots back up to super stardom where he is comfortable and the normal Sunday that us hackers love to see.  Hit em well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

City League

 

     I am sick and tired of the debate of 96 teams.  If it is not broke do not fix it.  You have the greatest tournament ever and you want to suck the drama out of it.  I love the bubble talk and who got snubbed to get in.  I play in a city league that everybody makes the playoffs.  In life there is winners and there is losers, that is just how it goes.  I love Texas Tech Bball and my boy darko would agree that they did not do what it takes to get into the dance.  They do play in the NIT tonight against Seton Hall(Darko have fun tonight).  Back to the story, Illinois, Virginia Tech and Mississippi State which are stellar teams got left out this year.  Sorry for ya but I have been picked last before and all it does is motivates me to do better next time.  That is what the Tourney is all about.  Everybody dwell on it but like in our Darko interview if you remain stagnant while others that are less talented will catch  up by putting extra work in everyday.  That is a senior college D1 athlete that puts it in more perspective than I can ever imagine.  He plays with more emotion than you actually see.  If they move it to 96 teams and the NCAA makes more money than I am moving to Canada and watch curling. 

 Bosley Please

 

     I thought the brackets were going  to make me lose some hair.  I hate being right.  At first, the first round makes you feel like you are a genius.  The only upset that I have is Cornell over Utep.  Then you get to the second round and you start thinking about all the games you have watched during the season and you quickly feel like you are taking your SAT's again.  Sweet Sixteeen is separating the teams from the squads.  I say this because there is a lot of squads with good athletes but do not have that teamwork to go any further in the dance.  Although that does not apply to Kentucky.  I call that the Jon Wall clause.  Moving to the Elite 8 and all the idiots start taking the #1's to go the promise land.  As of now I split up the Final Four with the ones and twos.  I have gave it consideration and I am sorry to say that you have to put your feelings aside when it comes to bracketology.  I have a place in my heart when it comes to Syracuse, but with Onuaka day to day I have to part ties. I am going to be watching that injury report like Feeney in the Superbowl.  Now the reason you lace up the hyperdunks, The Final Four.  Let it be known it took me four hours to write this and fill out my brackets.  I am probably going to switch my picks three more times but that is why we watch.  Right now I have WV, Duke, K-State and Kansas(sorry Kentucky it was a hard decision).  The championship is going to be Duke and Kansas but sorry brett Kansas is going to have that one shining moment once again. 

Bracketology the other sweet science

Tourney reflections vol. 1
I'm listening to all the bracket breakdown which has me very excited. One of the hot topics with this years bracket as usual is who got left out two notables in that category are Va Tech and Mississippi St. With all the recent talk of tourney expansion this got me to thinking...why can't we have legit play-in games instead of "no hope" team a and "zero shot" team b. Dickie V is arguing how the selection committee can leave out a VT and put in Georgia Tech when VT beat GT head to head, and has a better conference record at 10-6 vs 7-9 when they play in the same conference. Why not eliminate conference tourneys all together they're pretty pointless anyway, and take some of these toss-up teams and put them into play-in games. You give the automatic bids to the regular season winner of each conference, which makes more sense when you consider body of work. Then you pick the for sure at large bid teams that have earned their way in without question and take the remaining teams left the "toss-ups" and randomly pit them against each other in a win and you are in game. No mess no fuss you beat the team in front of you and earn your team's spot...just a thought.

An interview with Darko

 If you haven't noticed yet we are pretty big basketball fans, and that's a topic we will be touching on pretty regularly around here. Being such basketball fanatics we naturally follow our local college program pretty closely, local being Lubbock, Texas and Texas Tech University. Everyone is aware that in West Texas football is God and here is definitely no exception. This season for Tech bball started out with a bang, going 12-2 with huge wins over UTEP and an overtime thriller at then No. 10 Washington. With such a great start to the season there was defiantly a buzz in the air here in Lubbock. Tech was ranked in the top 25 and every where you went people were excited about the program and the season to come. Around this time Brad and I got a chance to attend a home game against another pac-10 foe Stanford, we got to United Spirit Arena a little bit late that night(work stuff...I don't want to talk about it)the only seats we could find left together were about 12 rows from the top of the arena, the place was packed, and everyone there was pumped it was like that same buzz around town times 100, it was a great atmosphere. Tech played great, fed off the home crowd and beat Stanford handily. Fast forward, the next game we had a chance to get to was the second to last home game against No. 6 ranked Kansas State. At this point in the season we had dropped some games, it's tough not to in such a stacked big XII(just ask previously No. 1 ranked Texas), but the much more disappointing thing about the whole situation was what we noticed when we found our seats(which were fantastic by the way). First a bit of background on this particular game A.second to last home game of the season so if you were going to come support your home town boys that would have been the time to do so B.we were playing No. 6 ranked K-State with arguably the best back court in the country in Pullen and Clemente as a bball fan it's exciting to go see those kinds of players C.tickets were a freggin dollar...a $1 that's eight cents cheaper than a double cheese burger. OK back to the story, so we get there about 15 minutes until tip, sit down the first thing we notice is how many open seats there are, not just second deck but everywhere. There was literally no one sitting in the upper level and there were groups of open seats sprinkled all over the lower portion of the USA. Frankly it was embarrassing, at the time we weren't completely out of tourny talk maybe hanging on by the skin of our teeth but not totally out of it, and a win over an extremely tough K-State team would've definitely put us right back in the discussion. The weather leading up to this game was a little rough with a bit of snow, it was pretty cold but this is no excuse. Four days after the Tech-K State game Brad and I watched the Syracuse Villanova game at the Carrier Dome on ESPN. This game fell during one the worst snow storms to hit the East coast in recent years, did that stop the Cuse faithful from showing up in droves, NO. The students made snow caves to camp out for tickets, the place was sold out,there were people sitting in the opposite end zone from were the court was they literally couldn't see anything, but they wanted to be there for their team. I realize comparing the Texas Tech basketball program to Syracuse is a little ridiculous, but honestly whose fault is that. What kind of message are we sending our current and future student athletes with our waning support? Fans aren't the ones who show up when your winning, those are just onlookers,fans are going to show up regardless of record regardless of whose running out on that floor. Here in Lubbock we've decided that we want to have/watch a good basketball program, maybe we need to decide to do our part to help and decide to be fans.
        Now that I've got that off my chest, we recently had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Brad's friend starting PF for the Red Raiders The Super Serbian Darko Cohadarevic...leads the break better than any 6'9 guy out there. Enjoy.
 
 
 
      B&B-Do you think equal emphasis is put on bball and football from the staff at Tech and administration?
      Darko-Of course not! football here is double more emphasized than basketball. And this is not just by staff and admin, but by fans as well. Football stadium will be full regardless of football team having great success or not. On the other hand (you could see it this year) basketball arena will be full only if we never lose a single game..or if we play Texas. Example of the real fans are Nebraska fans.....they are even worse than us...yet, their arena is packed every single game.
 
  
   B&B-In your opinion what would it take to kick Tech bball up to the next level?
   Darko- I am not really comfortable to speak about this, but I believe that  it takes years to rebuild such a major program like TT is. Maybe emphasis on recruiting would add a little speed to that rebuilding process. Another important factor is the strength of the BIGXII conference. It is one of the best conferences in America, and it is really hard to be good in such a good league.

 
     B&B-As someone who went through the recruiting process how could the university do a better job of presenting the school and Lubbock as a whole?
     Darko-They did a good job with me. Even though I had some other major offers, I had no doubt in my mind where I wanted to go. I believe that with coach Pat now being a head coach, this program will get better and better each year. He is a players coach. He is a modern example of a great college basketball coach. The thing with coach Bob Knight was that not everybody wanted to play for coach like that. It required players to have a patience, understanding, willingness to take a huge amount of criticism, zero amount of stubbornness, etc., and I am not sure that many kids these days have all these characteristics.

 
    B&B-Do you think that bigger recruits would be more inclined to come to a less attractive locale like Lubbock if we ran maybe a different style offense less motion more dribble drive?
    Darko-No. Motion offense is a really good offense. It is a little bit guard oriented, but that is, in my opinion, not even close to being a factor in recruiting. Good recruiting is influenced by some other things. If one wants to play for a particular school, city, weather, and other environmental factors like that will not be the major factors influencing one's decision about choosing the school. If Tech was in the middle of dessert or on the oil platform in the middle of the ocean, I would still come to play for Tech.
 
  
    B&B-As a player how have you grown at Tech what do you feel helped you be successful coaching, facilities, playing time, self practice, etc.?
    Darko-All these were factors in my personal growth as a player and as an individual. It is obvious that I have grown as a player here. Great coaching staff is the first and major reason for that. Of course Facilities are great at Tech. When it comes to playing time being low, that should not be anybody's excuse for not getting better. My junior year I played 10 min. on average, and I still got better every day. If one wants to be better than others, he or she must do extra work every day. If one works like everybody else, he or she will only be good as everybody else. Yes but what about talent? Talent is a factor, but if someone more talented does not work extra, he or she will remain stagnant while others that are less talented will catch up by putting extra work in every day.
 
  
   B&B-Who has been the toughest guard for you at the college level?
   Darko-Clemente from K- State
 
 
   B&B-Finally, who is your final 4 and who do you have winning it?
   Darko-Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Villanova....Kansas all the way

 

Temporary fall from grace

This is the look UNC fans have seen from future hall of fame coach Roy Williams almost all year long. No one ever said it was easy defending your championship especially at the D1(or w/e we're calling it these days)level, but I'm pretty sure no one thought at the beginning of the season the Heels would make it look so hard. After bringing home the hardware last year with perennial COLLEGE basketball phenom Tyler Hansbrough and teleportingly quick guard Ty Lawson, UNC has finished up this years effort with an abysmal(for them)16-15 season going 5-11 in ACC play and capping it all off at Cameron Indoor against Duke in a 30+ point beat down. All of this with countless McDonald All Americans on the roster and two potential future lottery picks in Deon Thompson and Ed Davis, a couple of young talented big men. Their 16-15 record was the worst in recent years since the 2001-2002 season when they went 7-19(hey Tar heel fans at least you don't still have Doherty on the bench). So it has been awhile since this power house program has seen a down year like this, but even more staggering, unless UNC makes a crazy run in the ACC tourny this will be the first time Roy Williams hasn't had a team in the NCAA's since 1989, you can bet he is bumming. After this year Coach Williams may be sporting a more Jim Boeheim hairline, but don't you fret too much all you sky blue wearing band wagoners this story isn't all bad news. That's right it is time to meet your new 2010-2011 Tar heels. Leading the recruiting class and according to many recruiting services the numero uno prep baller in the nation Mr. Harrison Barnes 6'6 190lbs SF from Ames, IA(home of Iowa State who he totally stiffed, classy). Barnes can handle, has great touch on his shot(especcially the mid-range game it's not dead), defends well, finishes tough, and rebounds really well for his size plays bigger than his 190...so ya just as you'd expect from the best incoming freshman he is really really good(youtube him its fun). Next up is the(according to scout.com)#2 recuit in the nation Reggie Bullock 6'6 185lbs SG good athlete and range for days great shooter can you say Ellington Jr.? No that's not all in addition to the #1 and #2 recruit they've also got a letter of intent from the #5(scout.com)as well Kendall Marshall a desperately needed PG 6-3 180. Marshall is from what I've seen just an all around solid guard quick and fast, good handles, decent ups, decent touch, displays great vision and willingness to share the ball. So hold those chins up Heels fans a change is a coming UNC is back in the hunt next year sniffing at that final four again, as much as I hate to admit it.

Quite the Conundrum

Just last night I was dogging Brett because he does not have a NFL team. Being the sports expert that he thinks he is, I just find it hard to believe that you can just be a fan of the whole sport in general. I got to thinking a little deeper and don't have a college bball team that is considered "my team". If you ask my favorite team I say Syracuse(L'ville did them wrong today), the one I follow the most is Texas Tech because I have a friend on the team. I live in Lubbock and grew up in SA. So you ask me who my NBA team is and of course I say the maturing Spurs. In the NFL it is the packers, because my dad was born in Wisconsin and if I did not like them I think he might shoot his youngest son. When I was growing up they called me, "Hurley" so I followed the blue devils, although I was torn between the two Duke and UNC. Which is basically like me liking both the Yankees and the bo-sox nation. I have not attended a major university so that would be the easy choice for anybody. So I will let him off the hook on this one because I just love college bball in general. When I think about what's to come I get giddy with excitement. Top to bottom the tourney is wide open. I think it just moved.

It's the MOST wonderful time of the year

            I feel like we've been talking a lot of NBA and NFL these last few days, and we have not yet touched on what a fabulous time of year this is. I don't know if you're aware yet but it's March, a time of year that's more exciting than the last day of school. It's even better than Christmas…that is right its tourney time ladies and gents. Get your excuses ready to call into work, make sure you've got printer paper for those brackets, and you better study up on those mid-majors if you want to make a better bracket than me. So as we draw near to this fabulous event you can expect the college bball articles to be dropping like Andy Rautins 3's.

Da Bears

Today is a good day IF you are a bears fan, picked UNC Hooper Julius Peppers and work horse runner Chester Taylor. Now if Cutler can quit whining and put up numbers like I think he can they are going to be a team to watch out for. Julius is going to strengthen an already stout defense. Especially with Urlacher coming back. Chester Taylor is going to help the offense but they are going to need to work on the passing game before he can spread his wings like he did in Minnesota. Although, he is a great back field receiver. I gave them there props but in the real world of NFC life they still do not have a chance against my boys(Da Packers) or the vikings if they get the golden boy back.

The NY Jets make a nice upgrade on their already stout D sending a 2011 3rd or 2nd rnd draft pick to Bolts for CB A. Cromarte

Feedback

Another way we want to try and get this flowing; if you want to contact us with comments, suggestions, article ideas, or just tell us we are idiots you can click on the profile in the bottom right corner of our homepage and e-mail us. We look forward to hearing from you, unless you yourself are and idiot.

The weekly or potentially just every so often "brett's right brad's wrong debate"

So one of the reasons we started this thing was to create a platform for sports discussion, opinions, downright arguing, ect. We want to start a dialogue about sporting news today and debate some sports history like would you take LeBron over Magic in an all-time NBA draft at the No. 2 spot? Because we all know who is No. 1. The point is if you're looking here effing comment here already, lets get this going...ya I said it...yes to you....mmmk, with that said here is a little tiff between Brad and I recently.
Brad-Monta Ellis puts up superstar #'s, but is not a superstar.

Brett-So the 6th leading scorer at 25.7 ppg shooting 45% from the field and 75% at the line gets to the stripe pretty often and plays good pressure D which is backed up by the fact that he is 2nd in steals this year so far AND avgs 5apg 4rpg isn't a superstar?....your rebuttal sir?

Brad-You act like I do not appreciate the #s he puts up. The kid has never seen a shot he does not like, but he is not the first person I think about when the NBA comes in my head.He does not even come in my top 20

Brett-Can you question shot selection at 45%?

Brad-So you are telling me Ellis is in the top 20 superstars in the NBA. I will list them if you want me to.

Brett-This isn't a top 20 argument it's "is he a superstar" I say yes im not going to narrow the scope to 20 players is Timmy(Duncan) a superstar?

Brad-Akron Hammer 2. Timmy 3.Kobe 4.Amare...PLEASE lets not get that debate started lets just stick to the young man we started with...4 rings.

Brett-So if the Warriors offered Monta straight up for Tim tell me they don't take that into consideration.

Brad-Pop would laugh in your face.

Brett-I'm not questioning his status I'm just saying as a Spurs fan that deal wouldn't excite you a little?

Brad-No not at all period might as well shoot my dog(from Brett while typing-my favorite line on this web thingy so far)They already took my boyhood idol from the Packers. Before you get me all worked up and off topic. Where is Ellis' commercial love?

Brett-Someone needs to shoot your dog cause he is getting painfully old...that's the difference with that situation Duncan isn't a No. 1 on his own team anymore and that's one of the things I take into account considering Monta as a superstar he is so young.

Brad-We are talking superstar status not trades.

Brett-to commercial question-A. He isn't personable B.He plays in Golden State. That's another reason I think people aren't big on him you don't see him anywhere but the court, and golden state games aren't easy to come by these days, unless your getting that Akron Hammer(apparently the official LeBron nickname of our site) dropped on you.

Brad-So are you taking back the superstar status?

Brett-No im saying he isn't marketable. My point with the Timmy trade was there aren't many players i wouldn't trade straight for Monta, contracts and what not aside.

Brad-I agree but to bring Timmy in it with me is a bad example.

Brett-But it makes basketball sense.

Brad-Yes.

Brett-OK...thank you. Other players I would consider stars in the league I would trade for him...Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Paul Pierce, and yes even Billups... Bradley(We play NBA 2K10 and Billups is Brad's go to player...kind of where this all got started Golden State Vs. Denver).

Brad-Stars but not SUPERstars that is what we are talking about right?

Brett-Semantics! Fan voted all star=superstar to me, excluding Chris the caveman Kaman.

Brad-There you go throwing big words out and all star voting. Damn you beat me to that caveman comment. In my eyes David Lee is a bigger star than Monta is.

Brett-Whoaaaa...you can't go all white guy on me like that it's just plain silly.

Brad-I am sorry, how about your boy RUUUUUDY Fernandez?

Brett-For sure I'd take Monta over him(much love 4 the Flying Spainard tho). Lebron, Kobe, dwade, melo, Durant, Dwight, cp3, Bosh, Deron Williams...can you think of anyone else on that level?

Brad-Amare

Brett-Because those are players I wouldn't group with Ellis, they are the untouchables, and I think if those are the only players better than you, your pretty freggin good whatever you wish to call it.

I AM KING

I am thankful that in my lifetime I AM WITNESS, twice. I don't think people realize that the AKRON HAMMER, Mr. Lebron James is the second coming. People are talking about him changing his number like Mj going to 45 during the return. They should be talking about that alley oop he "stackhoused" on the knickerbockers. They should be talking about how he makes everything he does look effortless and more important fun. You are lying if you have not tried a different handshake with one of your boys or at one time threw up some baby powder before the pick-up game. I had the tape, Be Like Mike, I sported the J's, wagged the tongue all that was amazing. No one will ever be as cool as his Airness. What we have now I think is a more personal and energetic phenom. All this Kobe vs Lebron is just a marketing trick for people to try to make Kobe look less FAKE. Unless Lebron goes postal, and I hate to say this pulls a Tiger(I love you Mr. Woods)he needs to tell Nike that he wants Tiger money and he isn't sharing it with Kobe. By all means I know he is not hurting but that's the cool thing is that it does not phase him. All he does is goes out there and astounds the world. He could be playing the Nets(the Nots)and people are still buying tickets. So the next time you get the honor nay the privilege to watch No. 6 take a second to realize that you are witnessing a young man just now starting to tap into his talent level. That alone is scary.

-Bradley S. Vreeke Co-Blogger

Race for the R.O.Y.

If you haven't been paying attention to some of the young talent in the NBA these days, you really should start. Tyreke Evans(of the Sacramento Kings, formerly a Memphis Tiger)is a John Calipari special, a big strong slashing guard, who gets to and finishes at the rim with the best. Then you've got my personal fav Stephen Curry(Golden State by way of Davidson), what I love about Curry is all the people pre-draft that said he was too small or slight of build, or he didn't have the skill set to move to the PG position. Well to all those people Steph has proved you wrong and then some. Hoopers hoop and that's all Curry has been doing since birth, he was probably hitting J's in the womb. Enough of my infatuation, to the data.

1. ppg Evans-20.5 Curry-15.7


2. reb Evans-4.9 Curry-4.2


3. apg Evans-5.4 Curry-5.3
   
4. FG% Evans-.466 Curry-.460


5. 3pnt% Evans-.255 Curry-.408


6. FT% Evans-.756 Curry-.875


7. MPG Evans-37.1 Curry-35.6


8. TO Evans-2.9 Curry-2.9
   
9. stls Evans-1.5 Curry-1.8

You crunch the numbers, very similar stats, but to me watching Tyreke play is like watching kobe without a jump shot he just dribbles around until he sees his crease in the D then hits it, and like I said he can finish at the rim with the best, but I'm almost positive his 5.4 assist per are all accidents because I've never seen him looking for his teammates. Curry on the other hand just fits into the game better. He takes shots when he can get them, drives when he has a mismatch or an opportunity, and has GREAT vision that can only get better once he gets some pieces around him. Not only that he is a sneaky good defender too. Sooo I'm obviously on the Curry bandwagon, where are you?